Thank you for your patience while we worked through the video issue in SeeSaw last Friday. The district has since pushed in the Google Photos app to everyone. However, since some were still reporting issues, even after Google Photos was uploaded, I have taken the extra precaution of linking my videos a different way. I was able to test this on the one remaining student iPad in my cart at school, and it looks like it works. Fingers crossed for Monday! As we all know, it is going to take us all working together to solve many of these types of issues that will continue to pop up on the Distance Learning journey-- this is new for all of us. Thank you to the many parents who troubleshooted with me and shared information with the class. It was wonderful to have such great support!
I really enjoyed our teddy bear picnic last Friday! It was great to just leave the Zoom on and hear the children banter with one another. I will try and work in some "lunch bunch" fun like that on a regular basis. I was really happy to see the children communicating with one another in an unstructured environment.
Small Group Instruction
I have completed all my assessments at this time (they are, of course, ongoing throughout the year). I am working this week behind the scenes on grouping the children and making our small group schedule. I plan to launch small groups on August 31st.
SeeSaw Tips
It is my hope with the SeeSaw choice boards that the children are going to become more and more independent and able to access the lessons on their own with as little help from you as possible. So far, I have heard many good things about the choice boards and how children are utilizing it on their own. It is great viewing the work they upload, and it helps me understand where they may need help and what they have already mastered. Please continue letting the work be as genuine as possible so that I can observe where they need additional support. A few more tips/reminders:
- Every day, there is something to upload to SeeSaw. I have added the directions on what to upload each day into the instruction area (before they open the choice board). These instructions are also recorded so that children can listen to them on their own. I have been going over what the day's upload is in the morning meeting as well.
- As they become more skilled at uploading, I'd like them to take pictures of more work and add that to their choice board as additional pages. Several students are already doing this. and here is a tutorial on this if you'd like to get started.
- So that children access their Zoom meeting on time, I would suggest that you set alarms on their iPad set for 5 minutes before their meeting time. Here is an picture showing an example of this:
This Week's Lessons:
- We will be reading both alphabet and number books this week. Books from the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom series will be featured.
- We will be working on the letters Cc & Dd this week.
- We will be focusing on number writing and number concepts in math. Numbers 1-5 will be this week.
- We will be working on color words and their spelling, as well as a little beginning labeling. Each day, children will be asked to draw three things of a certain color. Then they will be asked to try to label those things with any sounds they hear. If they only write the initial sound at this point, or even letters that don't make sense, that's ok! We are developing independence as writers and attempting to spell on our own, using the phonetic sounds we know.
- We will introduce our Eureka math book this week! Each day, there will be a lesson on SeeSaw with instructions about which page we are doing.
- We will also introduce an app on the iPad called Handwriting without Tears "Wet-Dry-Try" that helps with correct letter formation. There is a tutorial on the SeeSaw choice board for the students about how to use this app.
